


From Across the Sea

by Robin_Egg_Blue



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: Elsa is struggling with watching Anna move on with her life, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, I find comfort in daydreaming, Love doesn't solve our problems, Post-Frozen 2 (2019), Potential elsa love interest, and I needed to get shit out, but it sure helps us start to fix them, however you want to take it, so lonely, the author wrote this because they're very lonely, watch me and this story spiral into madness within the month
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:40:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22086535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Robin_Egg_Blue/pseuds/Robin_Egg_Blue
Summary: It's been almost a year since Elsa abdicated the thrown to live in the Enchanted Forest. While she tried to help Anna as much as she could, she found that her younger sister didn't need much help in the way of ruling a kingdom. While away in Arendelle she slips into old habits that she just can't seem to shake and with something calling to her once more, it was safe to say she had a lot on her plate.Will she fall into herself at seeing her sister's achievements and looking back at her shortcomings? Or, will she come out stronger than before when people need help in a way only she can provide?
Relationships: Anna/Kristoff (Disney)
Kudos: 7





	1. On the day the bells rang

**Author's Note:**

> Once again a story has crawled from the depth of my mind, but this time I have a secret weapon....
> 
> GRAMMERLY PREMIUM!!!!
> 
> So hopefully fewer grammar mistakes and more detailed story action! Please be sure to let me know what you think of the first chapter because the one way to get me to post chapters faster is by telling me how I'm doing!

Light never seemed to travel far when you were out at sea, but the Dark sea wasn’t called the Dark sea for no reason. The sun seemed to be swallowed by the sea itself, and legend said that the sea didn’t have a bottom and that if a ship sank, it kept sinking and sinking until, eventually, it started rising more than sinking. People used to swear they could see something massive swimming in the rough waters as quickly as a duck in a pond, and that that same being had been responsible for the hundreds of missing ships that had gone missing in its waters.

“Aw you’re full of shit Charles!” a voice cried out on the top deck where three guards sat at the bow of the ship with a lamp sat on the makeshift table, they sat at with a pint of grog each. They were supposed to be on night watch, but they all knew that no one was crazy enough to venture into the Dark sea unless they had a death wish.

“Like yours was any better!” the other man cried, “Come on! A poisonous water rat that can kill cattle a hundred feet away? That’s such bullshit!”

“It’s true! All of my neighbor's cattle were dead in the water when he went to check on them in her early morning! No wounds! Nothin!”

“Maybe it was somethin’ small like a needle or something?”

“Who would go around and kill over 200 head of cattle with a needle for fun?”

“I don’t know, maybe the same person that duke was talking about!” the sailor huffed and threw his hands in the air, nearly toppling his grog.

“God, would you two shut up!?!” the third man joined as the other two burst into tipsy laughter, “You’re gonna wake the captain!”

“Kid, let me let you in on something,” one of the men said, wrapping his arm around the other man's shoulder and pulling him close, “The captain is an old superstitious bastard who believes in sprites and spirits. He knows all of the old songs about myth and legend and believes where we are right now,” he swung his arm out wide to the vast sea surrounding them without a soul or light in sight, “is home to one of the most powerful beings this world has ever seen and that the monster we’ve got below deck,” he stomped his feet, “could kill us all with one blink,”

“Yeah, but…”

“So, if the captain _does_ come out here and sees us sharing a drink and telling tales then we could simply tell him we were getting our liquid courage up and spreading some knowledge to the youngers!” he finished loudly and downed the rest of his grog with a chuckle and joined the other man at the table. He eyed him for a moment before giving out an exasperated sigh.

“What? Don’t tell me you believe in all those stories the captain tells!”

“You seem to,” the younger retorted

“Poisonous water rats are on thing, but the things the captain spouts?” he shook his head, “the wind carrying a soul? The Nokk? A place that holds the answers to everything? Just delusions of an old man past his prime I say,”

“I’ve learned that every story has some bit of truth to it…”

“And I’ve learned that the more grog you drink, the less you care about the world around you!” the other man said in a bold voice and finished his pint. The younger glanced out to sea for a brief moment before giving in and sitting back at the table to finish his pint. What the hell? One night wouldn’t kill anyone.

Whereas the Dark Sea was a place of seemingly endless darkness and pitch, Arendelle was a place of seemingly infinite light and warmth. Lamp posts lined the streets and lit the roads with a soft, warm glow. Stores, long since closed, still kept one lantern lit inside to allow the guards to see inside. Even in the dead of night, one could still see the life and love that worked in the area even when its occupants were asleep.

Most were asleep, but if one looked to the castle which sat on the water, one could see the silhouette of someone walking by the windows before finding a spot on a secluded balcony. If you were new to the town, you would have sworn up and down that it was a ghost you saw walking the halls. The ghostly white of its hair and clothes would seem to shine almost blindingly in the castle lamplight, and the way the figure would move with such pose and balance could only be the cause of a long-dead relative of the royal family come to walk the halls of the castle where it once lived.

Only you’d be wrong. Those who had lived in the town for a few years now knew of the former Queens habits of walking the halls during the late at night though they could never figure out why; Maybe it was sleeplessness, maybe nightmares, or perhaps the former Queen had no need for pointless needs such as sleep. For years there were whispers among the townsfolk about the then Princess Elsa who no one could ever recall truly seeing in person for more than a few minutes at most. There were whispers that she was an illegitimate child, a bastard, because of her pure white hair. Some called her merely a ghost and hallucination to everyone who had seen her, but others said it was something…else.

When Elsa first heard those whispers and rumors, she wanted to tell them it was sleepless nights, that she wanted to walk the halls without the eyes of the maids and guards watching her move because she knew how they liked to talk. Still, now that she knew some prying eyes were waiting to catch a glimpse of her in the massive windows, she made it a point to stay as far away from them as possible. Tonight though, Elsa didn’t care. Let them wonder why she was walking the halls once more because, after all, they had no one what happened to her after she abdicated the throne. Even if they asked her why she was back in her wandering ways, she wouldn’t be able to give them an answer, at least, not one they could understand.

She was the very definition of restless. Anytime she closed her eyes, they were back open like a spring lock. Her legs bounced nervously anytime she sat down for longer than a minute, and she caught herself twisting the ends of her hair in anxiousness. She knew that this didn’t go unnoticed by her sister. She saw her whispering in hushed tones to her fiancé more than once during dinner. She didn’t even know if she could explain it to her, the last piece of a family she had left in this world.

“If coming back to Arendelle makes you this anxious these days, then we can always meet up at the forest, so you’re more comfortable,” came her sister's hushed voice as Elsa stood on the balcony looking out towards the direction of the Enchanted forest.

“No, it’s not that,” the elder sister replied as Anna wrapped her arm around Elsa’s and joined her in staring out over the water.

“What is it then? Something wrong with the forest?”

“I…I don’t know,” she admitted with a tired sigh, “it’s like there’s this…knocking in my chest like someone knocking on a door leading to an empty room,” Elsa expected her to joke saying how she knew what the sound of a knock was, but there was only silence.

“It’s like somethings trying to get my attention but doesn’t have the strength to call out as the others have. Sometimes I think its all in my head, but then it’ll knock on the door…”

“Maybe you should go back…” Anna said quietly and leaned her head on Elsa’s shoulder, “Just to be safe. What if something is wrong with one of the spirits, and they can’t call out to you anymore? What if…”

“They are fine, Anna,” she said to her younger sister, “I know they’re all fine this is just something else, and besides, I promised I would stay for the ceremony,” Anna reluctantly let go of her sister's arm and turned back to the door.

“Well, can you at least try to come back to sleep? We have some new guards that don’t exactly know that much about you yet, so they might raise the alarm and I don’t want to wake the whole town up because of it,” Elsa took one more look out the water before turning and following her sister inside.

The following morning was a flurry of activity as people rushed about preparing the courtyard for today’s ceremony. A large white archway stood in front of the castle doorway, and hundreds of chairs sat in neat rows in front of it. Hundreds of red, orange, and yellow flowers adorned the standing columns and walled archways and made the air smell sweet and fresh. A band was softly warming up to the side with each member wearing their most elegant attire; Lively notes filled the air before being cut quickly by the lead band member.

Elsa watched over it all from Anna’s bedroom window while her sister tugged and squeezed herself into her wedding gown with the help of Gerda. The sister had chosen a beautiful yet simple white dress. It wasn’t big, but the fabric adorned with little stitching of forest scenery and the 4 four spirits. You had to look pretty hard to tell what they were, but Elsa was touched by detail none the less.

“We owe them so much, so I thought it would be fitting to honor them in some way…” she explained when Elsa first saw the dress. Even though she knew the Earth Giants and maybe even Nokk themselves were indifferent to the gesture, Bruni and Gale loved it; The latter of which was helping those outside place decorations in hard to reach places.

“Earth to Elsa?” she heard her sister call out as she shook her head from her thoughts. She turned to look and saw Anna had finally gotten herself into her dress and was now fumbling with her hair with no small help from Gerda. Anna looked at her sister with a tired “please help me” smile that Elsa had come to know all too well. She stepped over beside Anna and carefully pulled apart the younger's hair, grabbed a brush with the desk nearby, and slowly went through brushing out every single little knot and tangle.

“I wish I was born with the ability to look good when I wake up and not the back end of a manure wagon,” Anna sighed and melted into the smooth brush strokes.

“That’s what makes you, you, Anna,” Elsa said, “I wish I was able to speak what I wanted to without having to worry about the repercussions,”

“But that kind of stuff takes a lot of time and practice and…oh,” Elsa smiled to herself as her sister clicked the pieces together with a nervous laugh. Elsa grabbed three strands of hair and slowly began braiding along the length of Anna’s hair, creating a waterfall-like effect. Once she finished, she carefully crafted a perfect ice flower and stuck it in her sisters’ braid.

“There,” she said with a lovely smile as Anna stood and looked at herself in the tall bay mirror in the corner of the room. Elsa’s heart swelled with love, but it seemed to hit a point where the feeling of warmth it caused faded in her body and now seemed to cause pain. It was like a small break in her heart seeing her little sister standing before her remembering how she talked about a royal wedding to a handsome prince and would tell her all about what it would be like. She doubted her sister ever saw herself as sitting Queen marrying a former ice harvester, but life was funny like that.

When the time came for the ceremony, the entire courtyard filled with people all over the land. Anna had extended a hand of invitation to everyone in the town of Arendelle, and the whole town showed up plus a few from neighboring towns and kingdoms. Many had to stand along the sides and in the back of the courtyard, and Elsa could hear the rising chatter and low music as the band played idly. They snuck along the back path of the castle to reach the front walkway without anyone seeing them. Anna nervously stood beside Elsa picking at her nails and jumping at every small sound, and when the wedding hymn began to play and the chatter died down, she felt her sister's pulse hit the roof. Anna once again slipped her arm around Elsa’s as the pair started walking towards the carpet that led to the archway.

“I never did get the chance to say how proud I am of you and how you’ve turned out to be,” Elsa said quietly, and she felt Anna grip her arm tighter as the pair began walking towards the carpet.

Anna had asked Elsa to walk her down the aisle months before the ceremony since neither girl how much in the way of a family left. Kai or even Olaf could have walked her, but Anna asked her instead, and of course, Elsa said yes, but now as she walked towards the pearly white arch with Anna hanging on her arm she could feel the stares of the wedding guests not looking at the bride herself but at her. She felt their stares like a heavy blanket, but she forced herself to ignore them and stare straight ahead at Anna’s soon-to-be husband, Kristoff. The former mountain man cleaned up nicely wearing a lovely piece of royal attire that Elsa helped get fitted. Beside him stood Sven wearing an adorable bowtie; When asked about a best man, Kristoff answered that Sven was the only person he needed standing beside him.

As Elsa and Anna made their way up the steps to the alter, Elsa very softly gave Anna away to her waiting husband-to-be and took her place beside her with Olaf already standing there with his big goofy smile. Elsa felt slightly better at seeing the snowman’s signature grin, but one glance at the crowd showed more people then she could have ever imagined all to see her sister’s wedding. If she ever got married while she was Queen, would as many people show up?

She felt terrible to say that after the first 20 minutes of the bishop reciting passage and speaking prayer, she stopped paying much attention. She had heard a long time ago that royal weddings often went on, but she didn’t expect this. For a while, she let her attention drift to Anna and play with “What if’s.” Then, her attention turned to the crowd where she realized that she could feel almost every emotion in the courtyard from the crowd; Love, fondness, jealousy and even boredom swelled and circled the room like wind with different emotions become stronger at different parts, but then she noticed another feeling, unease, and it was coming from the small wind spirit she could see dancing just out of the corner of her eye.

Gale’s regular movements were slow and graceful, but now she could see the spirit moving sporadically much to the annoyance of the guards and guests in the back row. Gale was always the jumpiest of the four, but why now? There wasn’t a threat here in the castle; She was sure of it.

When the ceremony was finally over, the guests threw flower pelts in celebration as the new couple walked back down the carpet into the town where a feast and party was in order for the wedding. Elsa waited for most of the crowd to follow behind before she stepped from her place, but Gale was already circling her chirping excitedly.

“What’s eating you?” Elsa asked the spirit, who paused briefly. Gale spoke in a soft trill before moving out towards the water in the direction of the forest, “Something wrong with the forest?” Gale chirped again and tried pushing Elsa towards the sea before Elsa snapped at him.

“Gale, I promised I would be here for Anna, and you know that,” she spoke with the harshness of a mother scolding her child, “and I can’t just run off right after that’s not fair to her,”

“Go find out what it is,” she said as she turned her back to leave as the spirit drifted alongside her, “By the time you get back it’ll be time for me to head back anyway, and if it is something then…” She paused for a moment like something in her chest echoed once more, “then get Nokk, and I’ll be home as soon as I can,”

Gale seemed to pause for a moment, and with one quick trill, the spirit took off over the fjord with surprising speed. Elsa watched the spirit go as she turned and went to join her sister.


	2. Called Home

It was late into the night before the party began to start to die down. The food that hadn’t been eaten was given away in large boxes to those who needed it most, and to those who wanted it. Anna and Kristoff barely had time to sit down much less eat anything past a few bites on their plates before someone would come up and congratulate the happy couple. By the time most of the guests were gone, Elsa could see the exhaustion on both of their faces and could see it in each wobbly step Anna took.

“Go on back to the castle,” she urged her sister, “Don’t worry about the cleanup, I’ll take care of it,”

“Elsa, you don’t have to…”

“You are both exhausted and tomorrow will probably be a bit more hectic than today,” she cut her off with a soft smile, “It’s best to rest while you can,” She knew Anna wanted to argue with her about it saying it wasn’t fair to clean up by herself. Still, she saw Anna’s shoulders drop as if a 2-ton boulder sat there. She gave Elsa a grateful smile as she and Kristoff turned back towards the castle gates, leaving Elsa standing in the courtyard.

There were a few others that stayed around to help clean up, most castle maids and staff that had put on the party in the first place. They shared glances as they watched the former Queen helped collect plates, move tables, and sweep up. It was easier for her, of course, as she used her magic to help with most of the heavy lifting, but there were some things she insisted she did on her own without the help of magic. Moving large tables on her own to feel the strain in her arms and legs, but it was something to help her keep her mind off the knocking, which had become more like banging, that echoed in her chest. It was as if someone was begging, or something, was begging to be let out, but only Elsa seemed to hear it.

Maybe the other spirits hear it too? Perhaps that was why Gale was so jittery…

A small trill drifted through the air as Gale came rushing back in more of a rush and panic than when the spirit had left. Its trills were sharp, almost ear piercing, and its movements were abrupt and jerky. The few maids and cleaning staff that were left jumped in surprise as the spirit circled them, causing more than a few of them to drop what they were holding in shock and surprise.

“I guess something is wrong then, hm?” she said as the wind spirit twisted around her body; its sharp summer leaves almost cutting into her skin and clothes. Elsa reached out her hand palm up, and Gale drifted just above it. Then, it dropped something hot onto her palm, almost causing her to drop the item. When she looked closer, she saw that it was a burning ember still warm from whatever fire Gale pulled it from. It was burning hot in her hand, and she could see it shift and change colors from a sunny yellow and red to an almost scolding white and blue; This wasn’t Bruni’s fire.

Now she knew she needed to get back. Something was very wrong in the woods, and if a fire was raging in the forest, then it threatened to burn the whole woods down to nothing more than ash and soot. She needed to get back and fast.

Gale followed her as she broke off into a sprint towards the waterline. Even in the darkness of night, she expertly navigated the steep stairs and walls, having run them almost all her life. Nokk was already waiting at the water's edge, impatiently pawing the water and tossing its head. Elsa wasted no time in a slow mount up, and instead gracefully leaped onto the Nokk’s back as the three took off across the water. Elsa took one look back at the castle and saw two or three faces watching her ride away from the courtyard archway. She briefly thought of Anna, and how upset she might be at her sudden disappearance without so much as a note, but she put it as far away from her mind as she could. If there was a threat in the forest, then Elsa had to deal with it just as if there was a problem in the kingdom, then it would be Anna’s job to solve it. She knew her sister would understand.

Nokk seemed to be in just as much of a hurry as she because Nokk nearly halved the time it usually took to get back to the Enchanted Forest. It moved at near blinding speeds, and Elsa felt like she was flying more than half the time, with each of Nokk’s strides over 20 feet long. She didn’t tell Nokk where to go but instead let the water spirit take her where she needed or where it wanted her to go.

Where it brought her was a place of death and destruction. On the shores of the Dark Sea where Elsa herself stood many months ago, now lay the scattered remains of a massive wooden ship. A flag ripped violently in the wind, but Elsa didn’t recognize what kingdom or town it belonged to; The symbol painted on it, an eye with an arrow pierced through it, gazed at her mockingly as she dismounted Nokk on the shore to examine the scene.

Bodies were lined up on the water's edge and were pushed further up the shore as harsh waves crashed atop of them. The fresh stink of death was everywhere and a vast difference from the scent of cooked foods and flowers she had just left. Bloated bodies were almost everywhere, but then she noticed something very particular. Some of the bodies had fresh burn marks on the face and neck, and some even had parts of their clothes burned away.

The ship must have caught fire while in the Dark Sea, and the Captian was forced to either crash or burn alive, but that didn’t explain the amount of drowned crew around the wreck. Maybe some made a jump for the sea rather than risk burning?

She continued looking along the shore and made a mental note to speak with the Earth Giants about burying the sailors because everyone deserved a proper burial. That was when she noticed something odd along the edges of the debris; Tracks, but not any typical animal prints. Footprints were marked deep in the sand, showing that whoever the owner of the tracks were, they were running, and running hard. Separate tracks lead in the same direction, but these were a bit bigger and shallower and seemed like there were more people maybe 4 or 5.

She pondered for a moment; These had to be the footprints of the sailors that survived, but why was one separated from the rest, and why were they in such a hurry? Surely it would be better to stick together, but maybe there was an animal after the one that ran, a wolf maybe?

After a moment of thought, Elsa decided to follow the track that had the most people. The lone track, she was sad to say, probably didn’t last very long once they got off the shore. Plus, the more people she could talk to about what happened then the faster she could fix the issue. Elsa carefully followed the tracks as they wrapped around the rocky cliffs and to a small piece of a cliff that had long ago broken off and made a low slope up to the top.

Elsa followed the tracks for the better part of an hour before she realized where she was. It was a small field near where the Northuldra made there home for the time being. Reindeer rested in the clear sky with their bodies curled up; Most bearly reacted as Elsa walked past them to towards the village where she could see the warming glow of the fire in the chilly summer night, and sure enough, sat around the central campfire were four faces she had never seen before. All men with pale chubby faces and scruffy beards, some longer than others.

Elsa knew what she must have looked like walking in from the darkness of night into the light. She had heard the whispers when she was at the castle at how ghostly her appearance had become since living in the Enchanted Forest, and in a way, she was now. She walked soft and spoke even softer; The regality in her posture and words hadn’t faded, and she doubted it ever would after having spent so many years perfecting it. There were a few Northuldra in the tribe that hadn’t gotten used to seeing her, and every so often, she would catch their starry-eyed stares when she walked past.

One of the men saw her and did a near-perfect double-take before elbowing his friend in the ribs. Soon enough, all of the men were staring at her in wonderment as she sat by the fire across from them. She tucked her legs under her and gave them a warm, greeting smile.

“You four must be the survivors from the shipwreck I saw on the Dark Sea shore,” she spoke, picking her words carefully. The men only stared wide-eyed back at her.

“The Black-eyed coward?” one of them, the youngest of the four, finally spoke up. Elsa nodded her head, “Did you seem anybody else?”

“Most of your crewmates were dead on the shore I’m afraid,” she said sorrowfully, “I’m sorry, I…”

“No! We don’t care about them!” another one of them cried, “A woman! Didja see a woman on the shore?” Elsa thought back briefly to the shore, but couldn’t remember seeing anyone overly faminelike.

“She should’ve had black curly hair! Wearing a Scold’s Bridle?”

“Why on earth would she be wearing that?” Elsa asked harshly, and the men shrank. A Scold’s Bridle was illegal, at least, in Arendelle it was. It was a device used to wrap around a persons head and stick a metal bit into their mouth. It jammed their tongue against the roof of their mouth and kept them from speaking. Sometimes it even covered the eyes, just to make it all the more painful and disorientating.

“S-she’s very dangerous,” the younger man said quickly, “We were in charge of bringing her to justice in Weselton…”

“Weselton?” Elsa’s voice rose once more at the mention of the town, “What were her crimes?”

“I know not, my lady,” the eldest of the four said with a respectful bow, “but we know that she is incredibly dangerous and not to be approached without caution and a weapon at the ready,” Elsa pondered once more about what could cause this woman to be considered so dangerous to these seasoned sailors; Maybe she was a killer? Or maybe a witch? Though, if these men were working in Wesleton, then they would believe any magic would be witchcraft, which would not end well for her.

“Then, I guess I shall keep an eye out for this woman,” Elsa said as she rose gracefully to her feet, “Goodnight, gentlemen,” She turned and started back the way she came, all while feeling the stares of the men and tribespeople them drill into her back.

She walked to the small place she called home; A tucked away little cave near the Dark Sea, but just far enough away that the sounds of the crashing waves didn’t crowd her mind. A few of the tribespeople helped her set up a study skin wall to block out the wind and cold when she first moved in. Now, the place was filled with small trinkets on shelves carved in the rock wall. The cot where she laid her head at night was handcrafted by Yelana to help the former Queen adjust easier to the elements. While nothing could beat the plush softness of a castle mattress, there was something about falling asleep to the crashing waves and whistling wind that made it a much more peaceful sleep.

A wave of warmth greeted her as she pushed the flap over and ducked her head in. The fire burning in the middle of the tent was kept alive by Bruni coming to visit every so often, but tonight the little fire spirit was nowhere to be seen. Elsa’s shoulders relaxed as she crawled into the cot tucked by the rock wall and pulled out one of the books she had brought back from the castle on one of her earlier visits. She read for a while before eventually drifting off by the warmth of the fire, not even bothering to put the book away as she fell into a peaceful slumber.

While Elsa slept, the forest stayed wide awake. New people always seemed to upset its delicate balance, but this was much much different than before. Nothing dared shed blood in the woods without asking the Spirits permission and blessing, and yet unseen eyes watch as four men stomped across the plains with a dimly lit lantern and swords at the ready. The spoke in hushed tones, but that didn’t matter as the forest knew what they were here for.

“Where do you think she could’ve gone?” the youngest of the four-spoke out, “Surely she couldn’t have gone far?”

“We don’t know that; Now, hush your mouth!” the man in front of him said harshly. They walked in single file silently until they reached the treeline.

“Captian, what the hell are we doing out here at night? Why don’t we just go back to that village and rest up?” The man spoke up once more, addressing the eldest of the four, the one leading the group.

“As soon as we sat down, what came to speak to us?” the elder said, “The Siren herself. She must have been the one that called the beast while we were at sea…”

“Captain, no one saw or heard anything when you called the alarm! It was just another false alarm that made us…” another man shouted, and the woods around him shrank at his volume. With surprising quickness, the Captian pulled out a long sword and held it flush with the man's throat.

“Speak again, boy, and this land will drink your blood,” His words whispered softly across the air, but the look in his eyes told the men he was deadly serious, “Our job is to return that beast to her home for judgment, and that is what we will do,”

“But…” the man never finished his words before a sword sliced deep into his throat. He desperately grabbed at his neck to try and stop the bleeding, but it was far to clean and deep a cut for anything to be done now. The other men watched as the man fell to the ground gripping his throat with thick red blood flowed smoothly between his fingers and wet gurgles coming from his lips. It didn’t take long for the man to fall silent as death finally took him, and the other men watched as his blood flowed between the blades of grass and began to pool in a divot in the earth.

“Any other questions?” the Captian asked, but both men held their tongues as they continued into the forest. From the tree branches, Bruni watched trio march noisily into the wood with pink flames burning furiously on its back. How dare they! Thinking that they could stomp all over the woods and spill whatever blood they please! Bruni growled before it forced itself to calm down. It carefully picked up the small scrap of dried reindeer meat in its jaws and swiftly climbed down the tree now that the men were gone. It scurried quickly in the opposite direction for a while and tried to ignore how delicious the meat would taste in its belly, but it was able to ignore it as it scurried over the edge of the cliff with a small groak. It heard what sounded like a mix between something choking and something trying to speak, and it quickly followed the noise.

A body lay huddled close to the rock face, too terrified to even begin to move around the small cliff Bruni had led it to. Their hands were fastened with a metal clamp with sharp spikes digging into the flesh on their wrists; Fresh and dried blood caked the area. A similar metal device was locked around the person’s head with a thick rusted band covering its eyes to keep it from seeing, and a metal bit jammed into its mouth to keep them from speaking. The person turned their head towards the sound of Bruni’s feet tapping on the ground, and very slowly sat a hand down on the dusty ledge and began to feel around. Bruni climbed onto the person's hand, and they very slowly turned their hand over. Bruni carefully crawled onto their palm and dropped the piece of meat onto their hand, and quickly climbed up their arm to settle on their neck. The fire spirit watched as the person slowly turned the piece of food over in their hand before bringing it up to their nose and taking a deep sniff. Very slowly, they opened their mouth and stuck the piece of food as far away from the mouth bit as they could and tried to swallow. Bruni watched as spit dripped from its lips as they tried so desperately to eat.

After a few painful minutes, they had managed to get most of the dried meat down with only some falling to the floor. At some point, the person took the piece and broke some off for Bruni, who happily ate it up. Fingers slowly tried to find the spirit, but once it was found, they gave him a small pat on the head with one finger. Bruni gurgled happily and tucked itself into the person’s hair. They were hot, warm like Bruni was, and the spirit couldn’t be more content to have found a new friend. Before the fire spirit fell asleep, it decided to show the new friend to Snow Queen so she could find a new friend too.


	3. A Bridle to control

She woke gently with the scent of smoke drifting through the air from the now burned-out fire. Elsa grunted and rolled over onto her stomach, and the book from last night fell to the ground with a thud; A soft croak echoed in her silent home. Elsa opened her eyes and saw Bruni standing right at her nose. The little salamander croaked happily at seeing her eyes open and rubbed itself against her cheek.

“Good morning to you too,” she said, her voice heavy with sleep, “Where have you been lately? Hm?” She scratched it under its chin as it flopped over onto its back. Elsa gave it a generous rub on the belly before Bruni hopped back up and jumped from the cot with a happy croak. Bruni quickly ran towards the doorway before turning to look back at Elsa with its head tilted.

“Alright, Alright,” she said and sat up in the cot, stretching her arms high above her head, “I’m coming just wait a minute,” Bruni croaked once more in response as she placed the forgotten book back on its shelf and finished stretching the rest of her body. Pops and groans filled the small room before she followed the fire spirit outside.

That was when she noticed something different; When she fell asleep the other night, she felt nothing but peace coming from the woods, but now there was tension where there hadn’t been before. It was as if the forest had been holding its breath through the night, afraid that a single gust of wind or fallen leaf could cause disaster. The usually bright morning sun was dulled by the overcast skies threatening to bring upon a summer storm, and in the distance, she saw a few of the Northuldra huddled together near the treeline. 

“Lady Elsa!” the familiar voice of Ryder called out as she approached with Bruni perched on her shoulder, “Come take a look at this!” She could smell it as she walked up, but her first thought was a wolf had gotten one of the reindeer in the night, but what she saw when she joined the group was much more gruesome.

The body of a man lay dead in the grass with a large slit across his throat, going from ear to ear. Lifeless hands gripped uselessly at the man’s neck and had begun to turn a pale, sickly white. When Elsa looked closer, she realized that he was one of the men she had spoken to last night, one of the shipwrecked sailors. Dried blood caked his skin and hands, and she could see it pooled around his back on the ground; His clothes stained a deep crimson, and his eyes were wide open as if in shock

“How could this have happened?” one of the tribesmen spoke as Elsa knelt and moved the man’s head to get a better look at the cut.

“This wasn’t done by an animal…” She said quietly to herself as she closed the man’s eyes. She knew every type of animal and beast that lived in the woods, but nothing short of a sword could make this clean of a cut. Could this be from the woman they were talking about the night before? Was she so reckless to kill like this? And where were the rest of the men?

“Go on and head back to the village,” she said as she stood, “And if you can, can you find a spot for this poor man? Somewhere nice and quiet…”

“Of course,” Ryder said as he and two other tribesmen gently lifted the body and began carrying it deeper into the woods. Elsa watched as the reindeer followed before Bruni bit down softly on her ear.

“Is this what you wanted to show me?” she asked as she picked Bruni up. The fire spirit croaked and swiftly jumped from her hand to the ground and scurried off. She sighed and rolled her eyes at the salamander's curious spirit, but as she followed, she couldn’t pull her mind from the sailor's body. She sincerely hoped this wasn’t the work of the woman the men were looking for last night, but if it was, she hoped that she would find the woman before the sailors did.

Elsa followed Bruni for a while before they reached a small cliff edge. She thought for a minute that Bruni just wanted to show her a new place they had found to hide from the rain, but then she heard something between a mix of chocking and gurgling. Bruni stood at the edge, looking down at something before climbing down. When Elsa looked down where the spirit went and saw something she didn’t quite expect, at least not from Bruni.

Leaned against a small ledge was the black-haired woman the sailors had been asking about, and sure enough, fastened around her head was the Scold’s Bridle only it was far too tight for her. Before Elsa even started climbing down, she could see the cuts along where the Bridle met skin and how deep it cut in some places. Even the metal piece that covered her eyes was too tight, and she could see dried blood tracks on her cheek like crimson tears. A spiked metal cuff bound her hands, and the dress she wore was tattered near to threads and was so dirty that Elsa could barely tell what color it was.

In hindsight, staying quiet while she approached probably wasn’t the best idea she had had in a while, but in her defense, she thought the girl was knocked out cold or maybe even dead. So when she brought a hand up to the woman’s neck to check for a pulse but got a sharp flinch away instead, when her cold hands touched the woman’s burning hot skin. The woman lashed out so quickly that Elsa almost didn’t have time to react with the woman's cuffed hands hit her chin. Elsa stumbled back, stunned, and the woman ran past her.

“Wait!” Elsa cried and ran after her, but it was too late. One misstep was all it took for the woman to lose her footing on the ledge and fall to what would be her death. Elsa reacted before she even thought, creating a large snow pillow under where the woman would land and an ice slide so she could follow after her. The woman fell with a soft thud, and Elsa stepped off the slide right beside her, expecting her to take off running again.

Instead, the woman’s head slowly rose from the snow pillow, and her hands gently played with the snow she had landed in. Elsa saw the confusion on her face for a moment before she turned her head towards Elsa.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” Elsa said as she walked forward and gently touched the Scold’s Bridle looking for a way to unlock it. Sure enough, in the back was a small keyhole, and with one wave of her hand, Elsa had made a perfect copy from ice. The Bridle popped open, and she tried to ignore the way the metal seemed to peel from the flesh of her face. Metal chipped against teeth, and blood dripped from her mouth as she pulled it entirely off and tossed it into the woods. She used the same key on the metal cuffs, and even more blood began to drip as the nails digging into her wrists were freed. The woman rubbed parts of her face that were no doubt sore and tender and looked up at Elsa with a tender, but bloody smile.

“Thank you,”

“Don’t thank me just yet,” She said as she helped the woman up, “Let’s get you cleaned and bandaged first,”

Elsa knew that she didn’t have the supplies she needed to take care of the injuries this woman had, so that was why she took her to the village. It wasn’t uncommon for Elsa to bring in sick or wounded animals to get nursed back to health, but a whole person was something entirely new. She could feel the villagers stare as she helped the woman walk through the village to Yelana’s hut.

“Oh goodness,” The elder said when she saw Elsa standing with the woman’s arm slung over her shoulder, “Come in, quickly,” Elsa gently handed the woman over to Yelana and turned to leave.

Only she didn’t. It had been far too long since she had spent any amount of time with the Northuldra, and besides, if those sailors came back and found out, they had their “dangerous woman” they might try to kill her.

By midday, the storm had rolled in. It started with soft pitter-patters on the leaves and hut roofs before quickly turning to large, thick raindrops and a torrential downpour. Villagers quickly ran for shelter, and Elsa took cover in Yelana’s hut. There she found the woman sitting upright near the fire with a thick pelt tossed over her shoulders. The different cuts and scrapes she had were wrapped up with a cloth, and the blood had been washed away.

“Am I allowed to thank you now?” she said with a smile as Elsa sat down by the fire.

“That depends,” she said, “Are you feeling better?”

“Much better,” she said and rubbed her sore wrists, “I can’t tell you how long they kept me in that damned thing,”

“Why would they in the first place? Scold’s Bridles are illegal in Arendelle…”

“Is that where I am?” she asked, quickly changing the subject, “They took me quite far North.”

“They said they were taking you to Wesleton,”

“They?”

“Some sailors made it from the wreck and were looking for you,” Elsa explained, “It was how I knew about you in the first place,”

“They didn’t…tell you why they were taking me there, did they?” Elsa shook her head, and she saw the woman relax.

“Well, I guess introductions are in order then,” she said and straightened her back and stuck out her hand, “My name’s Blair. I’m from the Doven Kingdom in the South,”

“Elsa,” she replied and shook her hand, “and technically Arendelle is still about half a days ride away from where we are right now,”

“I figured…” she said, and the pair lapsed into silence. The drumming of the rain of the tent kept a steady beat until Elsa broke the silence.

“We never heard much from Doven in Arendelle,” she said, and the tension in the room grew thick.

“Yeah… after the King and Queen died, the place kind of fell apart,” she said, nearly whispered, “I don’t know how it is now though because I haven’t been back in sometime. My brother…” The words died in Blair’s throat, and Elsa decided not to push.

They sat in silence for a while; the rain drummed overhead. Sometimes one of them would say something, comment about the rain or say something to Yelana who sat quietly in her cot sewing some clothes. Elsa had always spent most how her life in silence, so she knew what kinds of silence meant what. This was a tense silence, the kind when someone wanted to say something but couldn’t. It was that kind of silence that Elsa hated.

So Elsa stood and made to leave, leaving Blair sitting by the fire to stew in her thoughts and questions. She wasn’t the type to push if someone didn’t want to say something. She could guess that most of her questions were why the former Queen of Arendelle was now living barefoot in the woods and about her ice powers. Things that Elsa didn’t want to answer right now; Now she wanted to find those sailors and find out what was going on once and for all.

Blair had heard about the Ice Queen in the harsh whispers from the sailors when she was on the ship. They said she was some kind of monster like she was, but meeting her now, she seemed far from it.

A far cry from her anyway…

She sunk into herself and watched the flames twist and dance in the fire. She tried to focus on the heat the fire gave off, but she was still so hot from the wreck that she couldn’t tell much of a difference. She bounced her knee to combat her nerves, but nearly jumped into the fire when Yalena touched her shoulder. The elder was holding a pelt blanket that Blair accepted with a smile and wrapped it around her shoulders.

“You know,” the elder said as she sat down beside her,” Lady Elsa has a knack for finding things out. I’m sure she can find out the truth about that shipwreck,”

Blair stiffened her shoulders. If that was the case, then she might as well head north and keep walking until she couldn’t any longer.

“But,” the elder continued, “She also has a habit for seeing the true good in people,”

Blair stood without warning, the fire dancing with her as she stood. Maybe she should give Elsa and the Northuldra a chance, but she gave her brother a chance, her mother and father too, and all they did was treat her like she was.

Who’s to say these people wouldn’t do the same?

The rain had died down from the heavy thick drops, but it was still raining none the less. It felt cold on her hot skin, but it was a welcome distraction. The village courtyard was empty, with people taking refuge in their tents, leaving Blair to stand alone.

Blair didn’t stand still for long. She quickly picked a direction, took a deep breath, and started walking with a plan not to stop unless something forced her to.


	4. Secrets to keep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to post at the beginning of the week, but since school started up last week I was busy getting classes sorted and didn't have time to edit and post and I couldn't do it earlier this week cause I got crazy busy at week, which is how we end up having a post on a Thursday night! I will post again Monday afternoon even if its a smaller chapter than usual so I can get back on updates

It had been perhaps a week since the wedding. There was a brief break in the endless council meetings and trade negotiations for celebration before it was back to work. Kristoff had been living in the castle for a while now and had already learned so much before the wedding, but now that he was adequately deemed “King,” he needed to know the finer things like table etiquette and speaking. Her older tutors stole him away for most of the day while she was stuck in council meetings with members that were unwilling to negotiate with each other. She sighed as General Mattias and the Minster of Trade discussed the rising traffic in pirate trade, and that was when Kai came in.

“Queen Anna,” he said, sounding quite out of breath, and everyone in the room fell silent, “It’s Lady Elsa, she…”

“Meeting adjourned,” Anna said quickly and pushed herself from herself her chair and rushed over to Kai, waiting at the door, “Where is she?” Kai followed her as she briskly walked down the hallway, eager to see her sister after her sudden disappearance after the wedding party without so much as a note or message from Gale.

“That’s the thing, your Highness. She was brought in bleeding and wounded on the Nokk by another lady. Both of them were unconscious when we found them,” Anna felt her heart freeze, and she gritted her teeth so hard she thought they might break, but she had so much practice now hiding her fears and anxieties in front of council members that Kai might not have even though she was worried.

“Where is she?”

“We took Lady Elsa to her old room and have already called for the Royal Physician, as for the other woman, we placed her in a separate room and were waiting for you to decide,”

“If Nokk trusted the woman enough for her to ride him them surely she is of no harm,” Anna replied as the pair walked the familiar path to Elsa’s old room. It was a path she had walked at least a thousand times in her life, but now it was with a sense of urgency that she hadn’t had before.

The West wing was known for being one of the coldest places in the castle, even when Anna was a little girl, and that was partly because of Elsa’s young powers. Anna always chalked it up to a terrible draft and worried about her sister when she locked herself away for those years, worried that she would be freezing during the night. Even after the Elsa gained greater control of her powers and no longer had emotional outbursts, the western wing still stayed chilly and breezy, until today.

It was stuffy and hot like Anna had been stuck inside a stone oven. The guards usually stationed in the West wing had discarded their cloaks, and the Queen could see a thin film of sweat form on their forehead as she ducked into Elsa’s room.

Doctor Icarus was leaned over her sisters still form with a pryer in his hand and a blood-stained cloth in the other. A few maids stood nearby with worry evident on their faces at what could cause such damage to the former Queen.

“Your Majesty,” Doctor Icarus said with a slight bow and cleaned his hands. Anna quickly walked up to the bed and found Elsa laying there still as stone, a part of her dress cutaway to revile a large nasty crossbow bolt stuck deep into her arm, and one pierced into her waisted. Her usually pure white dress and hair soiled with the crimson of her blood and the brown of mud and dirt.

“They haven’t hit anything vital, but the bolt tips are something nasty I haven’t seen before…” he said and tried once again to free the bolt from her arm. He spread the as far as he could without doing to much damage with the pryers and gently twisted the bolt until it wiggled free from her flesh. Anna was no stranger to wounds or surgeries, she was a clumsy kid after all, but the mangled flesh that the bolt tip left behind was almost too much for her to even look at. What made it all the worst was how Elsa didn’t react at all, not a flinch.

Anna wanted to stay, but Doctor Icarus asked her to leave, saying that the bolt in her waist would need his full concentration. Anxiety gnawed at her stomach like a starving hound with a bone as she walked down the sweltering hall to the room where the other woman lay. Two guards were stationed outside of her room and gave her a curt nod as she walked past them into the room and was immediately met with a blast of dry heat.

Where Elsa’s room had half a dozen maids and the Royal Physician tending to her wounds, there was only one maid in this room bent over a body laid out on the bed. It gave Anna a strong sense of loneliness…

“Your Highness!” the maid said in surprise and dropped the cloth she had been dabbing on the woman's forehead. Anna waved her off.

“Sorry to scare you, Amelia,” she said as she walked up to the bed. The woman in question was more like a human pin cushion with six identical crossbow bolts stuck into her body in various places. Black hair was fanned out across the pillow with clumps of mud and blood, and when Anna looked closer, she noticed multiple parts of her tanned skin were turning different shades of blue, black, and purple.

“Any idea who she is?”

“No, Ma’am,” Amelia replied with a shake of her head as she continued dabbing the woman’s forehead and skin, “But, she was still somewhat awake when she and Lady Elsa came in on that water horse.”

“Really? That’s…” she trailed off. Any number of things could have happened to cause this woman and Elsa to be in the condition they were in, and though Anna didn’t know this woman, she had a feeling that without her, Elsa would be in much more significant danger than she was in.

Thought that would have to wait until either of them woke up and recovered enough as much as the Queen hated the thought. As much as she wanted to stay at her sister's side and wait for her to wake up, she knew deep down it would be a few hours at least, and that was a few hours of work that she desperately needed to get done. She’d do no good to Elsa worried sick; She needed to keep herself busy.

For Elsa, walking the empty ice floor of Atahallon was peaceful, almost therapeutic in away. It was a cold silence she had never experienced before and was something saved for her eyes and ears only.

The silence was broken by a pounding sound as if someone was desperately pounding on a door.

“I’m sorry! Please! I-I didn’t mean…” a voice cried out, and suddenly, the cold brightness of the ice was replaced with dank, dark walls of a dungeon. Boots scuffed against the cobblestone floor as two guards drug a young woman-no- a young child down the hall. Her dress was torn and ripped near to shreds, and Elsa could see bruises and marks across her face and neck.

“Lock this beast up until we find out what to do with her…” a male voice growled, and a figure followed behind them, not much older than the girl himself; 13 if Elsa had to guess.

“Waylan! I’m sorry!” the guards roughly tossed the girl into the cell, and Elsa heard her head hit the cell wall with a sickening crack. Her sobs echoed the stone walls as three men watch from the other side of the bars.

“Why would you do this to me? Your sister?”

“How could you do something like that to your own parents?” Waylan’s voice bit back twice as sharp, and Elsa saw tears shine in his eyes, “Nothing but ash left to bury…”

“I told you it was an accident!!!” The girl shouted, and the three in front of her stumbled back from the sudden heat. Flames licked against the bare walls and floors searching for something to latch onto but quickly faded away once nothing could be found. The young girl curled into herself, seemingly unfazed by the flames.

“An abomination to God…” one of the guards muttered, but the girl didn’t react.

“Come, your Highness,” the other guard ushered the young boy away, and Elsa’s vision went black.

When Elsa woke up again, she was in a pain she had never felt before. Her bones ached as if she had tumbled down off a cliff. Her skin felt tight and sticky, and a sharp pain shot through her waist when she tried to sit up.

She slowly opened her eyes and found herself back in the familiar space of her old bedroom. The old portate of her father's coronation day looming over the unused fireplace like a silent guardian. For a moment, Elsa thought she was back to her childhood before the Great Thaw and before she went to the forest, but it was only for a moment.

“Elsa!” a familiar voice shouted, and a weight crashed into her. Elsa grunted in pain before the weight backed off, “Oh! I’m so sorry, I forgot!”

“It’s fine…” Elsa grunted, and the familiar sight of her sister came into view once the pain spots faded. Anna looked almost as bad as she felt; The Queen’s hair was disheveled and a mess from not having been done in maybe days, dark bags formed under her eyes, and her clothes were dirty and stained.

“What the happened?” she tried to sit up, but her sister's gentle hand gently laid her back down.

“We were hoping you could tell us. You and some other woman showed up on Nokk covered in cuts and crossbow bolts a few days ago,” Anna took a seat in the chair beside the bed as Elsa leaned back onto the bed.

“Where is that other woman?”

“We put her in another room just down the hall, but she hasn’t shown any sign of waking up, and she’s burning up with a fever,” Elsa sighed and swallowed the dry lump in her throat. She had lost track of her time, but then again, she didn’t know how long she had been here at the castle. She remembered searching for the sailors for a while, but eventually coming up empty-handed and returning to the village only to have Yelana tell her that Blair had left some time ago. She asked Gale to search for either group while she went back out to search again. She remembered a wolf watching her from the top of a ridge, wondering if its fur really was glowing or if it was a trick of the sunlight.

“Elsa,” her sister's voice pulled her from her thoughts, “What happened?”

So Elsa did her best to tell Anna what had happened in the past few days. From the knocking to finding the shipwreck and the sailors. She told her about the sailor with the slit throat not far from her home and finding Blair not far away with the Scold’s Bridle around her head. Anna sat patiently and nodded her head as her sister went into detail about how she and Blair ended up at the castle.

“I went looking for the other three sailors to get answers about this. I sent Gale to look ahead, but I was walking for a while before I found any sign of them,” she paused for a moment, “It was part of an old camp made from bits of the shipwreck; Old clothes used as tents and half-broken barrels used as seats around a burnt-out fire.”

“It was this old man that called out to me, and looking back on it now; they must have been waiting on Blair or me because they had crossbows armed and ready. He asked me what I was doing, and I asked him about the sailor that had been killed. He said that Blair had killed him, but I knew he was lying. Blair couldn’t see to run from me when I first found her so she couldn't kill a man like that with such a clean cut. I told him it had to have come from a sword,”

“What did he say?” Anna asked, and Elsa bit her lip.

“Nothing. He just stood there and…stared. The next thing I know, I heard bolts firing and felt something hit my shoulder. I try to get behind something, but I can’t find anything. I pull up a wall of ice before I hear one of the sailors cry out,”

“I look over…and a wolf is biting around the man's neck,”

“A wolf?”

“A wolf, but this one…” Elsa stopped for a moment remembering the shock at seeing the wolf latched onto the sailor's throat. Blood dripping between tar-black teeth and eyes lit with a flame that to rival the sun itself. Blair stood not far behind with her hands burned with the same fire as the wolf's eyes.

“…was huge,” Elsa finished and ignored the strange glance from her sister, “Wolves never travel that far North before so I…hadn’t expected to see one…”

“So, how did Blair end up there?”

“They had already found her,” Elsa lied and dug herself deeper into a hole, “Used her as some kind of shooting target. We were far enough north that the Earth Giants were nearby and put an end to the fighting and sent us away on Nokk,”

“I guess…” A swift knock interrupted the sisters as Kai leaned in the doorway.

“Sorry to disturb you, your Highness,” he said with a slight bow of his head, “but there is news from General Mattias in the harbor.” Anna nodded her head, and the bed shifted as she stood.

“Tell him I’ll be there as soon as I can,” she said, and Kai nodded his head and turned away, then she turned to Elsa, “Stay here and rest. If you need anything, call for Gerda, ok?”

“Ok,” Elsa replied, and Anna left her with a soft click of the door, leaving Elsa to boil in her own thoughts. She fell back onto the bed with an aggravated huff and tried to ignore the spike of pain that shot through her side and shoulder.

Why was she lying about this, and to Anna of all people? She would understand it probably better than anyone else in the castle, and yet…

She thought back to what the sailors had called her; a dangerous beast and not to approach her without a weapon. She knew people had said the same things about her those years ago when she fled the castle. Hell, they even came after her with crossbows and tried to kill her themselves, and nearly did.

Elsa needed to talk to her. She needed to figure out what was going on and why she did what she did. Why did she leave the village? What did she do to be put on that ship?

Was she the one that set it aflame?

A Heavy unease settled in her chest like an iron bar at the thought of Blair having that much blood on her hands. Something like that…Elsa couldn’t imagine having that kind of weight to bare. She wanted to find her now, but if Elsa was just now waking up, she doubted Blair would be in any better shape. All she could do now was rest and slowly get better herself.

So, she slowly settled into the bed to try and not disturb her already throbbing wounds. She stared at the familiar ceiling before she felt the pull of sleep drag her down into darkness.


End file.
